How does the ingredient you experimented with affect the food’s overall characteristics? Be specific and discuss the chemical structure of the ingredient and the chemical structures of the aspects of the food the chosen ingredient interacted with as part of your answer!
The ingredients I chose to experiment with are eggs, butter and milk. These ingredients are all dairy products and derived from animals. My experiment was a test of how each of those ingredients impacts the overall outcome and characteristics of a baked biscuit. the fake egg is made of potato and tapioca starches, leavening agents and cellulose gum, which are predominantly carbohydrates and chicken eggs are made up of fats and proteins, they would have a very different effect on the product. On the molecular level, these carbohydrates from the fake egg form polysaccharides which are made of long chains of sugar molecules. Polysaccharides cause the starches from the fake egg to entrap evenly dispersed water into the batter and hence affect the springy gluten, creating a biscuit with a softer texture. The process however different from that of a real egg did not necessarily impact the product as differently as expected. Since the vegan biscuits were lighter than both the batch with a real egg and the batch with the same ingredients and a fake egg when weighed, the fluffiness proved to be the result of the milk and butter instead. The fat content of whole cow milk is considerably greater than that of oat milk. It is therefore thicker and acts as a densifier for the final product of the cooked biscuit. It is fair to say then, that the differing milk and butter caused the biscuits to also differ in fluffiness and density,
In what way(s) are cooking and doing science similar and in what way(s) are they different? How are a cook and a food scientist similar or different?
Cooking and science are similar to each other in that they both deal with chemistry and reactions. Some examples of this are the reaction of yeast and water, a heated oven and muffins, frying etc. The chemical reactions that occur can be a result of cooking. While a food scientist certainly deals with food and cooking to an extent, they are more focussed on the molecular level reactions that occur rather than the specific flavors and qualities that a chef looks for.